Alabama Police Catch Suspect In Bar Shooting That Left 17 Injured

Alabama police say they have a man in custody that is accused of injuring 17 people in a shooting at a bar in downtown Tuscaloosa.

Alabama police say they have a man in custody that is accused of injuring 17 people in a shooting at a bar in downtown Tuscaloosa.

Police say a gunman walked up to the Copper Top Bar early Tuesday morning with a military-style assault rifle and began firing inside the location from two different points.

Investigators believed the man was targeting an individual inside the bar, citing behavior in a surveillance video that was released.

“When he first walked up and there were people outside on the sidewalk, he stood for several minutes watching and observing before he fired a shot," Tuscaloosa Police Chief Steven Anderson said in a press conference Tuesday.

DCH Regional Medical Center said it treated all 17 that were wounded, including three University of Alabama students.

"As of 8 a.m., two patients have been admitted to critical care and three have been admitted to regular hospital rooms, and 12 were treated and released," a spokesman said in a statement.

Riley Dunn, a University of Alabama senior who was injured in the shooting, estimated that there were 80 to 90 people in the area at the time.

Dunn said there was one gunshot, then, about 20 seconds later, "that's when he really started firing them off" and everyone scattered.

There were trails of blood in the area around the Copper Top, Justin McDaniel told the Tuscaloosa News. McDaniel said he wasn't hit by the gunfire, but his shirt was stained with other people's blood.

The Copper Top is part of a row of bars and restaurants near a downtown square in an area that's home to several nightspots and is popular with students from the university. The business is about a block from Tuscaloosa City Hall.

Police were also investigating whether the bar rampage was connected to a shooting about 45 minutes earlier at a home a couple of miles away. One person was wounded in that shooting.